Men's Track & Field

Tech Places Second at New England Division III Championship

May 07, 2011

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The MIT men's track and field team staged a late rally in the final two relay events of the day but were unable to catch Williams College, as Tech finished second at the New England Division III Championship on Saturday evening at the Steinbrenner Track. The meet went well into the evening, after being delay twice due to lightning, before the Ephs were able to secure the team title with a 151-147 advantage over the Cardinal and Gray.

The Engineers needed to make up a 15-point gap over the final two relays and would need some help from Williams' competition. Josh Duncavage, Tyler Singer-Clark, Daniel Ronde and Patrick Marx got things started off well by winning the 4x400 relay in a time of 3:19.42 and adding 10 points. Williams took sixth in the event meaning it would need just a seventh-place finish in the 4x800 relay to guarantee at least a share of the title.

Nick Leonard, who ran a leg of the first-place 4x100 relay, along with Duncavage, Singer-Clark and Nathan Peterson, got the weekend started for MIT in the Decathlon on Thursday and Friday afternoon. Leonard took first in the 100, second in the 100 hurdles, third in the 400m and fourth in the pole vault for a third-place result in the Decathlon with a total of 5507 points.

Cyrus Vafadari gave Tech a huge lift in the pole vault with a surprise victory. Vafadari was the only vaulter to clear the bar at 15-11.00 feet, ten inches better than his previous best and moving him up five places from his seed. Peterson backed him up with a sixth-place finish.

Vladimir Sobes won the javelin by a huge margin with a 214-05 foot effort, an NCAA automatic mark and the fourth best in Division III on the year.

Matt Falk also outperformed his seed in the high jump, getting over the bar at 6-4.00 feet to place third overall. Falk was projected to finish seventh in the event.

Paul Welle, Stephen Serene and Richard Prevost earned crucial points for MIT in the 3000-meter steeplechase, as Welle took second place with a time of 9:17.07. Serene finished in 9:22.77, good for fourth place, as both he and Welle came in under the NCAA provisional standard. Prevost was fifth with a time of 9:25.25.

Singer-Clark and Duncavage finished their busy weekend with a third and fourth-place result, respectively, in the 200 meters. Singer-Clark came through in 22.18 with Duncavage not far behind at 22.24.

The Engineers will continue competition in the regional championships, moving on to the All-New England meet next weekend. MIT will square off with teams from across Divisions I, II and III at Southern Connecticut State, beginning on Friday, May 13.